An average of 5 days. It is the time that families today must wait in order to have the results of the tampon prescribed to their child by the pediatrician on the basis of symptoms similar to Covid-19. A very long time that risks blocking the country, because together with the child awaiting the outcome of the exam, the parents are also blocked, who in many cases have no one to entrust to their children who cannot go to school ” . This is a “serious criticality” which, denounces the president of the Italian Federation of pediatric doctors (Fimp) Paolo Biasci, highlights how the organizational system of tampons to detect any positivity to SarsCov2 of children and young people attending schools “is not working “.
“The time between the request for the tampon by the pediatrician and the arrival of the results are too long. This denotes a serious organizational deficit and the risk is that the country will stop, because the parents cannot work and are stuck with their children. , maybe a whole week to then have a negative swab result “, explains Biasci, defining this situation as” unacceptable “. Sometimes, he explains, “the parents, or one of them, are forced to stay even for a whole week because during the weekend the work of the analysis clinics is interrupted. An unacceptable lengthening of time, with the risk of important consequences also on the economic system, even more so if we consider that the time to obtain the report of a swab done in hospital is a few hours “. The situation, he warns, “is already very difficult now and the prospect can only get worse with the arrival of seasonal flu”. In short, the president of pediatricians clarifies, “the problem is not so much a health problem because, fortunately, Covid occurs in milder forms in children and complex cases are limited, but rather of an organizational nature”. This game, he insisted, “was to be played on the territory but, in reality, the Regions did not invest the necessary resources”. In other words, it is “fundamental – he adds – to guarantee rapid swabs, with results within 24 hours”. To this end, a proposal by the Fimp is for example to encourage ‘Drive through’ points for quick swabs made by car, “in all ASLs and 7 days a week”.
The problem of waiting arises essentially for the initial tampons, those that the pediatrician is called to prescribe in the face of a wide range of possible suspicious symptoms. The situation for carrying out the two swabs required to certify the recovery from Covid appears less complicated, as already foreseen by the ministry of health and reiterated in the circular of the dicastery for the return of children to school. In this case, notes Biasci, “the local health authorities can organize themselves and plan the tests in advance, and moreover the positive children at the moment are a limited number”. Similar problems also for family doctors: “The expectations for the results of the swabs – says the secretary of the Italian Federation of general practitioners Fimmg, Silvestro Scotti – even reach 10 days. The fact is that the prevention departments of Asl are not up to the task of coping with the growing demand for tests “. Another race against time is that for the flu vaccines: “This year it is good that as many children as possible be vaccinated to avoid concomitance with flu symptoms. Vaccines, however – underlines Biasci – in the majority of situations still do not we have been distributed “. The president of Federfarma Marco Cossolo also returns to denounce the shortage: “In Italy there are 1.25 million doses of the flu vaccine missing. All the quantity produced has been absorbed by the Regions for the categories at risk and – he concludes – the doses for the active categories “.
– .
